At the end of what has seemed to be an unending week full of twists and turns, I feel impressed to write about a simple thing that I've noticed in my son Beck. At eight months old he has the faculties to be in control of his life. What's greater is that he uses them.
What am I talking about? Of course, he will for a long long time depend on his parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and numerous other adults to help him through life. But each day as I watch him I am amazed at what he has already learned. Beyond amazement, I marvel at how so many of the natural controls a baby exercises in his life each day are in large part forgotten by the age of adulthood.
To give an example, let me describe mealtime. Beck certainly has not learned manners yet. He sets with his mouth hinged wide open and his arms flailing waiting for the coming spoonful of food to be shoveled in his mouth, and if it does not get there quick enough he surely lets me know. As his belly begins to get full, however, the open cavern gets smaller and smaller until he's content enough to get distracted with what's going on around him and his mouth just quits opening. His body tells him when it has had enough and he listens and obeys. (The trick is for me to also be paying attention and stop when he shows me he is full.)
How simple it is for him to eat and stop eating according to his body's natural ability to regulate itself! It's not to say I can't get another bite into him-I can. But, in addition to looking out for his nutritional well-being, my role is to help him recognize moderation and restraint. I can do that by listening when he tells me he is full.
So, why can't I do that with my own belly? I'm positive my parents were not shoving unwanted food down my throat all through my childhood (french-cut green beans and Spanish rice, aside). It hardly seems useful to try and pinpoint a moment in life where I decided I would start eating to the point of overindulgence. Why do any us of need to do that? Isn't it interesting, though, that so many of us do push past that point that our bellies tell us not to? I know, of course, that a large problem now is that we're eating faster and before our stomachs can say, "Enough," we're out the door and onto the day's next event. But, even in those cherished long and leisurely social gatherings when the body has ample time to give us warnings, we tell it, "Shhh," and keep on eating.
The focus in my mind is not to specifically pick out eating and overeating. It is to realize that as babies grow into children and children into adults there are simple and natural behaviors that are often left to fade away. Only eating until we're full, getting sleep and rest when we become tired, squirming around kicking our legs and batting our arms because we have energy and know we need to use it-I think these are some of the child-like attributes we are often counseled to express.
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